Mr. Hamond, the Member for Newcastle-on-Tyne, who has reduced Mr.
John Morley to the position of the junior Member, does not seem to understand that it is one thing for an orator to declare it an " ignominy " to fall behind a political antagonist at the poll, and quite another to pledge himself to resign, if such an " ignominy " should be in fact inflicted upon him. Mr. Morley no doubt feels the ignominy keenly, but perhaps the ignominy of abandoning colleagues to whom his aid is essential, and a cause to which he has devoted so many years of political toil, would be greater still. Where some sort of ignominy has to be endured, the common-sense proceeding is to endure the lesser and escape the worse. Mr. Hamond jumps to the rash conclusion that what a man declares to be ignominy he is not prepared under any circum- stances to endure. And when Mr. Morley informs him of his blunder, he commits the still worse error of not openly con- fessing it. It is a pity to sully a great triumph by a display of foolish and uncandid obstinacy in bringing an erroneous political charge.
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